“Zuma refused to step down” – Mashatile reveals in leaked recording

Msholozi hanging on for dear life.

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA  NOVEMBER 02: Paul Mashatile addresses the audience during the Save SA civil rights movement gathering on November 02, 2016 in Pretoria, South Africa. Political parties and civil rights society groups gathered across the country demanding that President Jacob Zuma step down, amid the release of former Thuli Madonselas State of Capture report. (Photo by Gallo Images / Beeld / Deaan Vivier)

ANC treasurer general Paul Mashatile revealed that President Jacob Zuma refused to step down, in a leaked recording that was published by TimesLive on Wednesday.

Zuma has been in talks with ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and it is believed the two are negotiating terms for his exit.

In the audio, Mashatile says the NEC were in a meeting with Zuma, where it was suggested that he steps down in order for the ruling party to have one center of power.

“We were saying to President Zuma on Sunday that we don’t want two centres of power; we want president Ramaphosa to take control not only of the ANC, but the affairs of the state. And we were very clear about it… President Zuma basically said to us: ‘I’m not going anywhere, I’m not convinced by you guys so I’m not going to resign. You can go back and report to your national working committee and the NEC that I said I’m not resigning’.”

This comes in a week of uncertainty regarding Zuma’s future. On Tuesday it was announced that the State of the Nation Address scheduled for Thursday will not go ahead as planned and will instead be held at a later date that’s yet to be confirmed.

Parliament speaker Baleka Mbete made the announcement, citing the threat of disruptions during the address as one of the reasons for the postponement. She also revealed that Zuma was also in the process of requesting that it be deferred to a later date.

The NEC were also set to hold talks with Zuma on Wednesday but that was also cancelled with Ramaphosa stepping in instead to negotiate terms, which he later revealed were “constructive”.